Topological quantum wires with balanced gain and loss

Abstract

We study a one-dimensional topological superconductor, the Kitaev chain, under the influence of a non-Hermitian but $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric potential. This potential introduces gain and loss in the system in equal parts. We show that the stability of the topological phase is influenced by the gain/loss strength and explicitly derive the bulk topological invariant in a bipartite lattice as well as compute the corresponding phase diagram using analytical and numerical methods. Furthermore, we find that the edge state is exponentially localized near the ends of the wire despite the presence of gain and loss of probability amplitude in that region.